Review of Atmospheric Storage Tank Fire Scenarios: Costs and Causes

Abstract

Atmospheric storage tank fires are relatively rare, but because of storing large amount of flammable liquid in them, they have catastrophic consequences. This study presents a review of atmospheric storage tank fire scenarios causes and costs. The fire accidents on the atmospheric storage tanks were collected from accident databases, papers and other sources. The causes and costs of the 104 accidents were classified. Initiating event of 38% of the accidents was environmental factors, 20% was equipment factors, 15% was operation factors (human error), 13% was domino effect, 10% was maintenance factor and 4% was terrorist attack. Lightning strikes were the most frequent cause of the accidents triggered by the environmental factors (21.73%). The cost of accidents that have produced domino effects was eight times more than cost of accidents without domino effects. The average cost for accidents that have produced domino effects was approximately 24,181,673$, and for accidents without domino effects, it was 205,191,298$. Identification of storage tank accident causes and cost can provide insights into how managers make cost–benefit analysis and implement effective corrective actions and safety barriers.